The Commoditization of the Gospel
In the current business world, the trend in branding is to offer service instead of merely selling products as commodities.
What is a commodity?
A commodity is like matchboxes or parking coupons or packets of sweets. It does not matter from whom you buy it from. As long as you pay for a transaction and get what you want, you do not really care who is serving you. The ” thing” that sells a commodity may be a counter staff or a vending machine. It does not matter. The customer does not care whether the staff on duty keeps on changing. He does not care to chat or share his needs to the staff. Once he pays for what he wants, that ends the transaction.
In the case of providing a service (especially when it is costly), it matters who is serving you. Customers tend to go for or ask for a specific person or company because “they understand me/my needs better” .
Thanks to modernization, church goers have become more utilitarian.Frequently asked questios in their minds are “is this useful? What is it for me?”. As long as I get what I want, I may stick around to build a relationship otherwise I will leave. The commodity they want from God’s church is knowledge, method, facilities and services. They are not seeking God Himself. If I do not get it from here I will go elsewhere including internet. With their mouth they say they are searching for God but they are seeking something else eg children bible class with state of art facilities?, a place to show case my gfifts?
Consumers of such “ gospel” are committed to a universal church (so they claimed) but not committed to any community for better or for worse. They serve until their needs are no more satisfied, after that they part company not to serve others but to be served again elsewhere. The word covenant is alien to them. They are more inclined to a contract.
The gospel has been commoditized to be bought or sold. It is packaged in many ways eg best sellers, video, internet sermon, hand-outs, courses, university credits. Many will sign up for classes to get what they want in order to “serve God better”. In reality they are modern Gnostics, lover of knowledge. There are many reasons why this is happening. Modernization, globalization and the internet advance may be the prime culprits. The other culprit is convenience, instead of communion. Not forgetting “ praises of men”. Agents who advance this spirit of the age are full time church workers themselves who may be pressured to prove their worth, bible school desiring to fill up classes, and authors whose heads have grown too big due to successful bests sellers. They all have made the Gospel a mere merchandize.
Like all merchandizes that need to clear the shelves before it lose its appeal, the gospel must be palatable, well package and of course must not be “controversial”. The aim is not discipleship requiring repentance after hearing the sharp thrust of the Word(The pure Word of God is inherently controversial to unbelievers) The aim is to make sure the numbers roll: numbers in attendance, numbers in P&L statement. Thus business planning requires a commodity driven church to think of the latest release of themes, church camps, bible class series to feed the machinery.
In the process we do not raise Christ crucified.
Instead we raise:
1.best seller in town
2.key note speaker with Ph.D from …..
3.early bird special so sign up now
4.best facility with cutting edge …..
5. most well attended seminar since….
6.testimonies from attendees about the speaker, camp, seminar…..
I am sure you can add on to the list.
All commodties serve their purpose. Of course they have their uses ( Singlish : what’s wrong? useful what?). I am sure such packaged gospel do help some people too. Is usefulness the main consideration in our Father’s business?
We are not called to spread utilitarian good. Secularism, new age, management theories and methodologies are already doing it. We are called to be peculiar ( 1 Pet.2:9). We called to be holy. We do not teach to make a flock of scholars.
The challenge to the church is how to be peculiar in the midst of comsumerism. Something for you to think about.
Every seed produces each own kind. A church fed with commoditized gospel will produce its own kind. Like a double edge sword, the sword of secularised gospel will swing back and cut covenantal ties with the very hands that feed them because the consuming church goer who is ever eating but never growing, decides to eat somewhere else. 2 Tim.3:7
Add comment July 19th, 2008
